London Forum Insights
Insights are our long-form review articles on key matters of interest to members
Balancing quality and quantity to deliver 1.5m homes
This article was first published in Housing Today.
The government – and housebuilders – must be given the best possible chance of achieving its ambitious target writes Ben Derbyshire
Nobody wants new homes built nearby because what housebuilders do looks horrible and inevitably overwhelms local infrastructure – right? Well, hold on. How else can the government achieve its target of a million and a half new homes within the life of this parliament?
According to the 2024 Competition & Markets Authority report, in 2021-22 the largest 11 speculative housing developers together supplied around 40% of new homes built. The government response has been to instigate bold reforms to housing delivery targets for councils and an overhaul of the planning system, investing in affordable housing and encouraging SME developers.
Even with the welcome additional £350m funding for social housing announced last week, almost half of the increased supply is going to be delivered [more…]
Website and communications improvements
Since volunteering to take on management of London Forum’s website and email communications in November, having become a Trustee at the 2024 AGM, I’ve been making a few improvements, with a few more in the pipeline.
Website screenshot 2025
The aim has been to:
- Better present the information the Forum already has.
- Improve the way we present news and other material in future.
- Improve news emails, and make them more regular.
- Integrate the various strands of news that the Forum produces, so that they can be communicated in a consistent and more digestible way, to members and farther afield.
- Facilitate better member interaction – more on that below.
[more…]Insights newsletters
PDF versions of the earlier ‘newsletter format’ editions of Insights are shown below. The archive of the Insights forerunner NewsForum is available here
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Government wants more delegated decisions
The government is to consult on shifting the jurisdiction of planning committees for smaller housing schemes, building on proposals in the Planning [more…]
E-bike safety
The Government published new independent research into the safety of e-bike and e-scooter lithium-ion batteries, chargers and e-bike conversion kits
Borough finance difficulties
London Councils, representing local authorities in London, has issued a press release on how the housing crisis threatens to bankrupt London [more…]
What’s Happening to London’s Population?
An Historical Introduction
London’s population peaked in the 1930s, reaching about 8.6 million in 1939. For the next half century it fell steadily, to 6.8 million in the 1980s, before beginning to rise [more…]
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The New London Plan: Shaping Housing for the Future
📆 13th May 2025 | 18:30 - 20:45
🚩 77 Cowcross Street, EC1M 6EL (map)Please note that this event has been moved to May 13th – see this update ( https://www.londonforum.org.uk/2025/04/06/the-new-london-plan-shaping-housing-for-the-future-rescheduled/ ) Many communities in London are concerned about future development that could change that character of their much-loved areas, whether by the scale, density or height of new building. This event will leave us all much better informed about the shape of the next ten…
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Planning, Environment and Transport committee meeting
📅 12th June 2025 | 14:00 - 16:00
🚩 Room B1 70 Cowcross St, EC1M 6EJ (map)